1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to organic electronic devices, and more particularly to organic electronic devices comprising conductive members and processes for forming and using the organic electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices, including organic electronic devices, continue to be more extensively used in everyday life. Examples of organic electronic devices include Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (“OLEDs”). The electrodes of the OLEDs closest to the user of organic electronic devices are usually made of a transparent material, such as indium tin oxide (“ITO”), indium zirconium oxide (“IZO”), conducting polymers, etc. For large size display panels with high pixel counts or high radiation intensity emission applications, such material becomes impractical due to high resistance along a conductive member (e.g., anode electrodes). ITO, IZO and other transparent conducting materials are also brittle and susceptible to cracking or breaking when flexed, making their use with flexible substrates difficult.
Other materials with lower resistivities, such as gold and platinum, can be used as semi-transparent electrodes; however, the thickness of these material are limited to usually around 20 nm in order to allow sufficient transmission of radiation. Such a thin metal layer has resistance that is too high similar to the other materials previously described. Although the line resistance reduces with increasing thickness of the metal layer, the transmittance of radiation through the layer drops becomes unacceptable and the electrode becomes substantially opaque. Using a thick metal layer as part of an electrode is not a valid option, as it does not allow sufficient radiation to be transmitted through it.